Bronze

Back in mid March, I found the lathe I'd been looking for on eBay, a 13" Clausing Colchester. The lathe looked pretty good in the pictures and the description sounded accurate from what could see. The price was around the usual for that machine. I took a chance and put in a lowball offer, the the seller accepted. He offered a money back guarantee, so I figured the worst I'd be out would be the drive to Connecticut (about 100mi) to check it out, which I planed to do the next week... Well as is the usual story with my life, I suddenly got very busy and I had to keep postponing the inspection. The seller was totally cool about it saying he could hold it for a couple of months if necessary. Finally by mid April I was able to carve out enough time to get out there, only problem I didn't have time to check it out first, I had to go with a truck to get it, and would be out the rental fee if I declined to take it... So I rented a truck, got a friend to help and went to get it.

Luckily, the machine was as described, running smooth and quiet, the ways looking nice without much noticeable wear. The seller paced the lathe in the back of the truck with a forklift and off we went...
Brand-new rental truck, only had 300 miles on it.
Unloading was pretty easy. However, my shop is in a basement and I hadn't quite figured how I'd get it down there...
Luckily, another friend down the road had the answer, though I wasn't able to get him there till late May.
Now you see where I'm going with this...
It wasn't till last week, the beginning of October, I had time to make the final move.
Had to cut out a section of the retaining wall...
I welded up a ramp out of some angle I had salvaged from a job site.
A little rigging and...
Got it onto the ramp without too much trouble...
My third helper...
a HF electric winch mounted to a temporary column.
It went pretty easy, the ramp had enough friction to prevent a runaway...
But we had it secured on the other end just to be sure.
We took it slow-n-safe
Nice-n-easy
Finally home
Getting her cleaned up...

H-M Supporter - Gold Member

Fortunately my basement entrance is a straight shot so a much easier proposition but I have used similar techniques to get my Tormach, lathe, and milling machine in. I use 2 x 8 planks with ties across to keep them in place and a pair of come-alongs to control the slide down the ramp.

H-M Supporter - Gold Member

Great job! I had to put in a complete outside entrance with a Bilco door to get my lathe in my basement in the house I lived in 40 years ago. Now I'm lucky and have a drive in access! Makes things a lot easier!

H-M Supporter - Gold Member

When I built my ramp, I used planks almost twice as long as the required ramp. The planks were laid out horizontally and a Bobcat was used to lower my load onto the ramp. The load was pulled slowly past the tipping point where it was possible to control the angle of the ramp with a little muscle power. One chain and come-along was attached to the downhill side and the Bobcat was used as an anchor on the uphill side. The load was slowly pulled in until it was inside the basement.

The advantage with this approach was that the load was always on the ramp.

Bronze

When I built my ramp, I used planks almost twice as long as the required ramp. The planks were laid out horizontally and a Bobcat was used to lower my load onto the ramp. The load was pulled slowly past the tipping point where it was possible to control the angle of the ramp with a little muscle power. One chain and come-along was attached to the downhill side and the Bobcat was used as an anchor on the uphill side. The load was slowly pulled in until it was inside the basement.

The advantage with this approach was that the load was always on the ramp.

I thought about doing something similar but the angle iron I had on hand wasn't long enough. Also, the lathe weighs around 2,500 pounds, I wanted everyone present to be well clear of it while it was in motion or in a potentially precarious position. We moved it hands off.

H-M Supporter - Sustaining Member

You guys with shops in your basements don't know how you do it. I found it hard enough to get my 500Kg, 1100lbs, lathe into my car garage, mind you I don't have access to backhoes, bobcats, and front end loaders.